A mobile communication device, such as a “flip phone” or “clamshell” type handheld mobile communication device, may have a linked end and an opposite free end. The device may comprise at least a first body member and a second body member which are coupled together at the linked end by a hinge or linkage mechanism such that the device can move between a closed position and an opened position. The first and second body members are commonly referred to as lid and base members respectively.
The lid and base members may commonly include a graphical display and keyboard respectively. The graphical display and keyboard can be on respective inner surfaces of the lid and base members. In the closed position, the inner surfaces of the lid and base members may be adjacent and not accessible to a user of the device. In the opened position, the inner surfaces may be accessible, and the graphical display and keyboard may, therefore, also be accessible to a user of the device.
It may be desirable to maximize the size of a graphical display in a mobile communication device. Since the lid and base members in a conventional mobile communication device may be approximately the same length, a conventional mobile communication device may be approximately two times as long in the opened position compared to the closed position. Therefore, in a conventional mobile communication device, an increase in the length of the lid member to accommodate a larger graphical display may result in twice the increase in overall length of the device in the opened position. Thus, there is a conventional design trade-off between increasing the size of a graphical display and maintaining a smaller size of the device in the opened position.